News 13.05.2025

News

The Netherlands brings a sports bar to the Venice Architecture Biennale, Primark highlights value in its new campaign and how clubbing culture has entered its Flat Age era.

Dutch Pavilion re-imagines the sports bar at Venice Architecture Biennale

Venice Architecture Biennale, The Netherlands Venice Architecture Biennale, The Netherlands
Venice Architecture Biennale, The Netherlands Venice Architecture Biennale, The Netherlands
Venice Architecture Biennale, The Netherlands Venice Architecture Biennale, The Netherlands

Italy – Curated by Amanda Pinatih and designed by Gabriel Fontana, Sidelined re-imagines the traditional sports bar as a welcoming, non-binary social space. Through games like Multiform, played on a three-sided field, and Anonymous Allyship, which removes visual team identifiers, the installation encourages visitors to reflect on belonging and fluidity. 

‘We asked ourselves how we could use queering methodologies to transform the sports bar into a place where anyone can feel seen and valued,’ said Pinatih. Fontana added: ‘The pavilion invites visitors to engage actively, reflect critically and envision new possibilities for more compassionate communities.’

Set inside the Gerrit Rietveld-designed pavilion and curated for Het Nieuwe Instituut, the project draws on queer theory and challenges binary competition norms in sport, offering a timely call to rethink social connection in an increasingly polarised world. 

For more insights on what’s new and next in sports branding, read our Game-Changers: The Future of Sports Fandom macrotrend report. 

Strategic opportunity

Re-imagine exclusive spaces through playful design. Use inclusive games and spatial audits to foster empathy, innovation and belonging in boardrooms, retail or events, transforming environments into accessible experiences

Primark’s Never Basic campaign champions quality and style at affordable prices

UK – Primark is spotlighting affordable fashion essentials with the launch of its new spring/summer campaign, Never Basic – Standout Quality. Iconic Prices. Running across 462 stores in 17 markets and on digital platforms, the campaign aims to challenge perceptions that value means compromising on quality. 

Featured items include wardrobe staples such as 100% cotton T-shirts, recycled cotton camisoles and cotton waffle shorts, with prices starting from £2 ($2.64, €2.37). ‘You don’t need to spend more to get great-looking basics you can wear over and over again,’ said Michelle McEttrick, chief customer officer at Primark.

The campaign, developed with creative agency VCCP, includes in-store signage and updated visual merchandising to showcase its essential ranges. Nikki Lindman, creative director at VCCP, added: ‘There is nothing basic about great quality at great prices.’

The initiative aligns with the retailer’s Primark Cares commitments, which include using more sustainable materials and promoting clothes designed to last longer. 

For more insights on what consumers value and how brands are strategically responding to this, read our New Codes of Value macrotrend report. 

Primark Never Basic campaign, UK Primark Never Basic campaign, UK

Strategic oppportunity

Position everyday essentials as trusted brand assets by highlighting design and quality, not just price. Present affordability as intentional and well crafted to strengthen brand perception and build lasting loyalty

Stat: Clubbing culture enters its Flat Age era

Never too old to go clubbing, YouGov Never too old to go clubbing, YouGov

UK – A new survey by YouGov challenges stereotypes about age and nightlife culture. When asked at what age, if any, someone becomes too old for clubbing, 41% of the 4,670 UK adults surveyed agreed that you never become too old to go out dancing.

Only 3% felt the cut-off age should be younger than 25, while 10% suggested age 30 and 13% felt the upper limit should be somewhere beyond 40.

The YouGov survey results reflect shifting cultural norms around ageing, nightlife and social identity as part of a wider shift towards Flat Age thinking. Our Gen X: Now and Next report examined the rise of day club events that allow Gen Xers to get on the dance floor during the afternoon and still get home in time for dinner and a night in front of the television.

Our Designing Nightlife report further explores the alternative options emerging on the nightlife scene to create a more inclusive industry that is less reliant on alcohol consumption and more beneficial for both mental and physical health. 

Strategic opportunity

Hospitality brands should challenge outdated assumptions about age-based social habits, creating inclusive, intergenerational spaces and experiences such as sober club nights, nostalgia-driven day parties and wellness-led after-dark events

Previous News Articles
Cashify flips Indian wedding tradition to promote smartphone resale

News

Cashify flips Indian wedding tradition to promote smartphone resale

Smartphone reselling platform Cashify is challenging outdated attitudes to second-hand tech by reimagining a long-standing wedding ritual as a cele...
Technology : Sustainability : Circularity
Stat: New overtourism report maps the global crisis

News

Stat: New overtourism report maps the global crisis

Wellness Retreat Magazine’s 2025 Overtourism Report ranks 40 major cities facing acute tourism saturation – and the data underscores a growing imba...
Statistic : Stat : Overtourism
Foresight Friday: Dede Mivehchi, foresight intern

News

Foresight Friday: Dede Mivehchi, foresight intern

Every Friday, we offer an end-of-week wrap-up of the topics, issues, ideas and virals we’re all talking about. This week, foresight intern&nbs...
Digital Detox : The Great Concert Comeback : Live Music Economy
MAD//Fest 2025: Culture, collaborations and creating a new identity for women’s football

News

MAD//Fest 2025: Culture, collaborations and creating a new identity for women’s football

On day two of MAD//Fest 2025, Ruth Hooper, chief marketing officer at the Women’s Super League (WSL), set out a vision for reshaping the visual ide...
Global Events : Advertising & Marketing : Football
Stat: US Gen Alpha favour consoles over mobiles for game play

News

Stat: US Gen Alpha favour consoles over mobiles for game play

Despite assumptions that mobile gaming dominates among young people, a new US report reveals that Generation Alpha are leading the charge in consol...
Statistic : Gaming : Media
Together Group and The Future Laboratory unveil New Codes of Luxury: Immersive Technologies for Transformation report

News

Together Group and The Future Laboratory unveil New Codes of Luxury: Immersive Technologies for Transformation report

In their latest report, New Codes of Luxury: Immersive Technologies for Transformation, The Future Laboratory and Together Group explore how immers...
Luxury : Technology : Design
MAD//Fest 2025: Delayed adulthood, algorithmic segregation and Gen Z hippies

News

MAD//Fest 2025: Delayed adulthood, algorithmic segregation and Gen Z hippies

MAD//Fest returned to Shoreditch on 1 July 2025, with this year’s theme Be Less Boring challenging brands to rethink how to engage with new audiences.
Global Events : Advertising & Marketing : Gen Z
Habitat and Pinterest unveil immersive campaign putting emotion into home design

News

Habitat and Pinterest unveil immersive campaign putting emotion into home design

Habitat has teamed up with Pinterest for an immersive storytelling campaign that repositions homeware as a tool for emotional re-invention and shop...
Retail : Design : Technology
Stat: Young adults are redefining romantic relationships on their terms

News

Stat: Young adults are redefining romantic relationships on their terms

As romantic norms fragment, 20% of people are now unknowingly practising ‘relationship anarchy’, according to the latest State of Dating repor...
Statistic : Stat : Dating
AI billboard visualises real-time sun damage in UV awareness campaign

News

AI billboard visualises real-time sun damage in UV awareness campaign

A new study by the British Skin Foundation reveals that 38% of Britons have already been sunburnt in 2025 – with Gen Z (35%) and Millennials (30%) ...
Advertising : Health And Wellness : Beauty
You have 2 free News articles remaining. Sign up to LS:N Global to get unlimited access to all articles.
BECOME A MEMBER
SIGN IN